Adjustable garter belt



NOV. 25, 1952 p J MORANO 2,618,785

ADJUSTABLE GARTER BELT Filed May 10 1951 Fig. 4 Patrick J. Morano INVENTOR.

Patented Nov. 25, 1952 ADJUSTABLE GARTER BELT Patrick J. Morano, Newark, N. J., assignor to Even-Pul Foundations, Inc. New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 10, 1951, Serial No. 225,524

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to new and useful improvements and structural refinements in garter belts, and the principal object of the invention is to assure comfort in the use of garter belts for proper suspension of stockings.

As is well known, a conventional garter belt, in much the same manner as a girdle, cannot be usually worn without the wearer being aware of its presence. By virtue of its elasticity which retains it in position on the body, a garter belt exerts a rather unfavorable, constricting influence on the waist and, in many cases, on the abdomen, and this unfavorable influence is by no means relieved by the constant downwardly pulling and lateral shifting which is tranmitted to the belt by the hose suspenders with each movement. Accordingly, those who do not subscribe to the use of a girdle equipped with hose supporters, commonly resort to the use of objectionable, constricting garters in preference to the use of the garter belt, believing the garters to be the lesser evil of the two.

As has been already pointed out, the primary object of this invention is to assure comfort in the use of the garter belt, and this is achieved by the provision of means for adjusting the tension or elasticity of the belt, so that the presence thereof on the body may go almost unnoticed, while at the same time the belt is adequately and dependably sustained in position.

Some of the advantages of the invention, apart from those mentioned above, reside in its extreme simplicity of construction and in its adaptability for embodiment in garter belts of different sizes and types.

With the above more important objects and features in view, and such other objects and features as may become apparent as this specification proceeds, the invention consists essentially of the arrangement and construction of parts as illustrated in the accompany drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a rear perspective View of the invention in use;

Figure 2 is a rear elevational view of the invention per se;

Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the invention, and

Figure 4 is a side elevational view thereof, this being partially broken away.

Like characters of reference are employed to designate like parts in the specification and throughout the several views.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the invention consists of a garter belt which is designated generally by the reference character Hi, the same being intended to be worn either over or under the usual panties l2 and embodying in its construction an elastic or inelastic band 1.4 which extends transversely across the front to the sides of the wearers body and has the opposite ends thereof stitched as at !6 to a pair of substantially triangular inelastic members I8, 20.

The members 18, 2|] are disposed in overlapped relation, the member l8 overlying the member 20 and the member 20 underlying the member l8, and it is to be noted that the lower apices of the members It, 20 are equipped with the usual suspenders 22 for the stockings 24 at the back, while similar suspenders 26, depending from the band 14, are provided for the stockings at the front.

When the garter belt is placed in use, the members [8, 20 are subjected to outward curvature by the contour of the body, and accordingly, the hose supporters 22 at the back are somewhat longer than the supporters 26 at the front. Moreover, it is to be noted that the upper edges of the members I8, 20 are curved downwardly while the upper edge of the band I4 is substantially straight (see Figure 2) this assuring proper fit and eircumferential adjustment of the garter belt.

In any event, the free end portions of the members I8, 20 terminate in relatively narrow tongues 28, 30, respectively, the tongue 28 overlying the member 20 while a major portion of the tongue 30 underlies the member 48 but projects slidably outwardly therefrom through a vertical slot 32 with which the member 18 is formed. To facilitate circumferential adjustment, the free ends of the tongues 28, 30 are equipped with adjustable fasteners 34 which are slidable on coacting tracks 36 secured to the respective members I8, 20, the fasteners 34, 36 preferably being of the conventional type, such as is disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,437,765 granted to N. Statham on March 16, 1948.

By separating the fastener members 34 from the members 36 and withdrawing the tongue 30 through the slot 32, the garter belt may be opened for expeditious positioning on or removal from the body. Moreover, by adjusting the fastener members 34 on the members 36, the elasticity or tension of the band [4 may be varied accordingly, so that the garter belt may be worn with comfort yet, at the same time, be dependably retained in position.

It is believed that the advantages and use of the invention will be clearly understood from the foregoing disclosure and, accordingly, further description thereof at this point is deemed unnecessary.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

In an adjustable garter belt, the combination of a frontal band, a pair of substantially triangular members each including a front corner portion, a depending corner portion and a tapered rear corner portion constituting a relatively narrow tongue, the front corner portions of said members being secured to the respective opposite ends of said band, the tongue of one member overlying the other member, the tongue of the other member underlying the first member, the first member being provided substantially above the depending corner portion thereof with a vertical slot and the underlying tongue extending slidably outwardly through said slot whereby the outer portion thereof is superposed on the first member, the tongues of said members extending horizontally in mutually opposite directions and terminating at points spaced rearwardly from the respective ends of said band, horizontally extending fastener tracks provided on the front corner portions of said members, coacting fastener elements provided at the outer ends of said tongues and adjustable longitudinally on the respective tracks, hose supporters on the depending corner portions of said members, and hose supporting straps extending downwardly from said band.

' PATRICK J. MORANO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 658,170 Crockett Sept. 18, 1900 856,524 Gorton June 11, 1907 1,437,330 Yerkes Nov. 28, 1922 2,429,941 Morano Oct. 28, 1947 2,568,670 Traub Sept. 18, 1951 

